A number of pieces of infrastructure are needed to bring the ACE train to Ceres so the awarding of a $71 million state grant to the agencies to complete them has been heralded as good news.
The San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority (SJJPA) and San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission (SJRRC) was awarded $71 million from the California State Transportation Agency’s (CalSTA) Cycle 7 Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) for the “Bridging Rail Initiatives, Technology, and Education (BRITE) Project.”
The BRITE Project includes a series of infrastructure additions and improvements that are necessary for the Valley Rail program which will eventually bring ACE to Ceres.
In particular, the $71 million will help close funding gaps for the Stockton Diamond Grade Separation project, which will separate the north-south Union Pacific Railroad mainline tracks from the two east-west Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway mainline tracks. This improvement will unlock the largest freight bottleneck in California and allow for increased frequency of passenger rail service, which will come through more daily roundtrip trains on ACE Rail and Amtrak San Joaquins as part of the Valley Rail program.
The BRITE Project package also includes the South Stockton Yard Crossover, with multiple switches, crossovers, signaling equipment and systems, special track work, and other needed improvements to support the Stockton Diamond track construction.
It also includes construction of a new station in Madera County for California’s High-Speed Rail (HSR) service between Merced and Bakersfield.
Once the ACE train reaches Ceres in 2027 or later, residents will be able to hop on to ride to either Sacramento or the Bay Area and not have a worry about driving in traffic snaking slowly over the Altamont Pass or up Highway 99.
Ceres City Manager Doug Dunford said the plan is to finish the ACE train platform in Ceres in 2026. The Ceres platform is planned for west of Highway 99 near Whitmore Park. Measuring about 15 feet wide and 1,000 feet long – the center loaded platform will feature passenger amenities and safety features such as patron shelters with benches, map boxes, ticket validation machines, street lamps, guardrails, security equipment and emergency call box stations.
ACE currently operates four westbound trains in the morning from Stockton to San Jose and four eastbound trains in the afternoon from San Jose to Stockton during weekdays. ACE stops at 10 stations along the route: (from west to east), San Jose Diridon, Santa Clara and Great America stations in Santa Clara County; Fremont, Pleasanton, Livermore, and Vasco Road stations in Alameda County; and Tracy, Lathrop/Manteca, and Stockton stations in San Joaquin County.
ACE trains are typically diesel locomotives pulling four to seven bi-level passenger coaches traveling at a top speed of 79 mph. A feature of the train is Wi-Fi connection so that riders may work on laptops as they ride to the workplace.
Additionally, the $71 million grant will support the Rail Academy of Central California (TRACC) to train skilled labor to maintain and operate rail services and infrastructure.
“We are very appreciative of our partnership with CalSTA and Caltrans, working together to improve service and advance rail connectivity throughout the state,” said Stacey Mortensen, executive director of San Joaquin JPA. “The TIRCP award demonstrates the state’s strong support for our Valley Rail program, and a commitment to providing accessible, convenient, and sustainable transportation for communities along our service corridors.”
This $71 million award supplements the approximately $420 million that has already been allocated from other funding sources to help support the BRITE Project components. The Valley Rail program is dependent on a combination of state and federal funding sources to implement a comprehensive set of track, station, and equipment projects – it will transform how Californians access and use rail travel as part of the transportation landscape.
